Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Versatile Blogger

I have been named a Versatile Blogger (again). My first nomination for this prestigious blogging award came from Jessica. My blog post about it can be found here.

But today, yes, today...we talk about my second nomination, this time from Shannon. So, thank you to Shannon for this prestigious blogging award, of sorts :)

By accepting the Versatile Blogger award, I have agreed to the following:

1. Thank the blogger who presented it to me and link back to their page.

2. Share 7 things about myself.

3. Pass this award to some newly discovered blogs (15, I believe....I ran out of steam after 11 the first time...we'll see how I do this time).

Sooooooo, #1 on the list is already taken care of. Now I have to move on to #2 and that might prove to be a bit more difficult. I shared seven things the first time around so I have to find seven NEW things to share. Anyway...onward!

1. I sell things on Craigslist and I give things away on Freecycle. I sell things on Craigslist for the sheer enjoyment of having money. I like money. I'm also one of those people that doesn't really like giving good things away for free, especially antiques. So, I sell things on Craigslist. Freecycle, on the other hand, is for things that wouldn't sell on Craigslist, are worth more than going to the dump (i.e., still useful), and that St. Vinny's may or may not take (a lot of office supplies, for example).

2. I am a firm believer in vaccinations. I know this is a really *hot* topic, especially lately, and I don't wish to cause any controversy and I don't want to debate it. The fact of the matter is that while I understand that actually getting a disease/illness and letting your body fight it off on it's own will produce better antibodies than a vaccination could, I'd rather not risk Little Man getting something really nasty if there were a way to lessen the impact or outright prevent it, especially when you throw his metabolic disorder into the mix. I know vaccinations do not always prevent a nasty illness but they do lessen the overall course and impacts of said illness. Little Man's genetic metabolic disorder rears it's ugly head when he gets sick or doesn't eat for too long of a period of time (fasting). The common cold could land him in the hospital. An ear infection can, and has landed him in the hospital. So, if he can have a polio vaccine and either not get polio entirely or only get a very mild case, all the better for him, since the first thing you don't want to do when you're sick is eat food...and that's exactly what he needs to do more of when he's sick. If he doesn't, he could die. So, I'm all for vaccinations.

3. I haven't spoken to my father in two and a half years....and I have no desire to start any time soon. What started as a passive-aggressive accusation on his part turned into a much larger mess that has very little chance of ever getting sorted out. He basically accused me of pawning his mother's wedding ring from her second marriage - which didn't happen and will never happen. Do I know it's specific location in my house? No. But I know damn good and well that it was not sold, pawned, hocked, melted, or otherwise out of my possession. That turned into him deciding to not walk me down the aisle at my wedding. As a result, he has never met or even seen a photograph of Little Man. I'm not worried about it from my own end. I've accepted the fact that he never wanted any children, much less a girl. I just don't know how I'm going to explain it to Little Man when he starts asking why his grandfather, who is still alive, has never had anything to do with him. How do you explain that to a little boy? So, I haven't spoken to my father in two and a half years.

4. Husband and I are currently trying to grow a garden on our screened-in porch. So far, we have cucumbers, green beans, jalepeños, sweet peppers, peas, and tomatoes growing. At the rate we're going, the beans are going to be ready to pick before we get them planted outside. So, we may just keep them inside. Same for the peas and peppers. The tomatoes and cucumbers should probably go outside, though. We're also planning to plant some dill, lettuce, radishes, and maybe some other things. We'll see.

5. I swore up and down for the majority of my misinformed youth that I never wanted children. Ever. They were the devil incarnates. Bratty, loud, obnoxious, destructive...I never wanted any. And then I started working in education in college...next thing you know, I've decided I want kids. Now that I have Little Man, I've decided that I don't ever want a girl. Apparently my subconscious thinks differently as I've been known to mutter in my sleep that I want a girl. ::sigh::

6. I hate being barefoot but flip-flops are okay. I always manage to step on something that causes pain or discomfort or annoyance. I hate having toe cheese (you know, the gunk between your toes) or sand or grass or anything between my toes or stuck to the tops or bottoms of my feet. I just really dislike being barefoot. In that same vein, I also have an intense dislike of feet. I think feet are disgusting. The only feet I like are Little Man's...and only when they're clean. And now that he's getting older, I'm starting to like his feet less and less (because they don't stay clean for very long).

7. I have a 5-10% hearing loss in my right ear. When I was small...okay, when I was younger, I used to get a lot of ear infections. Seriously. A lot. It got to the point where I was sent to see an ear/nose/throat specialist and tubes were recommended. Well, that was all fine and dandy. I had tubes put in, earplugs made, the whole shebang...I was probably around four years old. Anyway, the tubes didn't fall out like they were supposed to so I had to have minor (seriously, totally minor) surgery to take them out...but those pesky ear infections kept coming. I also got a buttload of sinus infections and cases of strep, too. As a result, I wound up with a hole in my eardrum that wouldn't close. People perforate their eardrums more often than you think...but most of those heal on their own and have no lasting adverse effects. My eardrum? Nope. Those repeated ear infections caused a rather large hole that couldn't heal on it's own. So, when I was seven years old, I underwent a tympanoplasty (translation: surgery to fix the hole in my eardrum - I'm pretty sure mine was either Type 1 or Type 2). This would have been all fine and well if it had worked but, sadly, the repair didn't take, I wound up with a significant amount of scar tissue, and had the surgery again when I was around ten or eleven years old...and, again, it didn't entirely take. It did, however, take some so my doctor thought we'd just let it be and see what happened. Fast forward to when I was around nineteen years old and I had a sudden bout of ear infections and strep again. I went to my ENT, the same one I had been going to since I was a child, and he said it looked like I was going to need surgery again. *sigh* I finally got over the ear infection from hell (it lasted around three months before I was able to shake it) and came home at Christmas only to find out that my ENT had retired. I was sent to his replacement, a young doctor (like just started his official career). He took one look in my ear and said, "yep, you're having surgery." I also wound up having my tonsils out around the same time. Anyway, the third surgery for this (at twenty years old) finally took. But, the damage has long since been done and, as a result, I have a minor hearing loss in my right ear. I also have some cool scars behind my ear. Luckily, it doesn't look like I'm going to need surgery again.

And now we're on to #3: Pass this award on to some newly discovered blogs....I think I'm going to change this to "newly discovered and/or favorite" blogs because I'm not sure I've added any new blogs lately...

1. Shelly at Wool & Chocolate - this is one of the newer blogs I read. While I may not always understand some of the things in her life (like having six kids or homeschooling, for example), I still find her blog lovely and fascinating :)

2. Cristi at Turtlegirl's Bloggy Thing - I don't quite understand her fascination with cats but she has a lovely doggie and lovely knitting and tutorials for fun things :)

4. Ruth at Ruth's Little Leprechauns - I'm seeing a slight trend...she's in Ireland...cross-stitching, knitting, kids with names that I cannot pronounce by looking at them though I'm sure they're much easier than they look...

5. Natalie at Misadventures in Craft - Yeah, she's in the UK, too...and she's just adorable. Everything from knitting to reading to cooking to......oh, just go visit :)

6. Whitney at Life on the Farm - knitting, raising boys and sheep (at the same time and separately), reKnitspiring Odysseyading...yep.

8. Stefanie at Knitspiring Odyssey - she's a crocheter, knitter, and lover of Hawai'i (though she's never lived there and is not any part Native Hawai'ian)...and I have a love of Hawai'i, too :)

9. Paula at Knit & Seek - she does some crazy things (and photographs it) - like off-roading, watching smoke, and other things...and she knits :)

10. Mandy at Infinite Book of Matches - this is one of the very few instances where I know the blogger in real life. Mandy and I worked together a couple of summers ago and shared a love of Harry Potter. She's a crafter (not knitting, that I know of), and all artsy fartsy...plus she's a teacher. I miss her face, too!

11. Finny (which may or may not be her real name) at Finny Knits - she can curse like a sailor and knit like the most refined lady...plus she's insane (beekeeper, HUGE garden, skiing......).

12. Armida at Fairytale Knits - I found her in the Year of Projects group and I thought about passing her over but she's just so cute and sweet and she's participating in Year of Projects...I just had to go there.

14. Kelly at Celtic Cast On - she's just so darn cute...and I love that she seems to knit really fast (or, perhaps, she has a ton of UFOs that are getting finished)

Well, crap..........I'm crapping out after fourteen blogs. Oh well. It's all good. Most of the blogs I have listed are newer (to me) blogs so I suppose it falls under the category of "new" blogs. Or something.